What is your favorite game of all time and why?

[AnarchistFish]

I got into gaming 2003/2004 so I haven't played many games from before that.

Halo: CE truly got me into gaming and since it was pretty much the only one I had for a while I'd play it over and over again (although I only actually completed it around 2006/2007 because I somehow could never get past the level where you first meet the flood and I eventually gave up until some friends showed me what way to go).
Pokemon Diamond (the classic Pokemon generations were, again, before my time) was probably the most addictive game I'd ever played. The older ones seem ok but maybe to appreciate them as much as people do you would have had to have been there when they first came out. Diamond had more in it on a basic level.
Fallout 3, AC:II and Mass Effect 2 are probably my favourite games for my 360. Probably for the immersion.

I can't really narrow it down more than that.

Quite mainstream games then.

 

[Jak LesStrange]

I'm gonna be a bit out there, but I have to say Brutal Legend. I love everything that Tim Schafer does, but this really took the biscuit, the cake and the whole frikkin desert table. Nothing quite like driving off of a Ramp and smashing facefirst into General Lionwhyte's face during the siege of his city... I'm gonna go play it now.

EDIT: I forgot to mention Beyond Good and Evil. I got it a few days ago and its definitely up there with my favorite games of the last generation.

 

[Fanfic_warper]

I wouldn't say the game individually, but the Pokemon series as a whole basically is my best game of all time. The catch'em all, train'em kind, not like the newer colleseum, ranger, trozei and all the other spin-offs that have come since then.

There's just something to me about personally raising my own pokemon with the same amount of care and affection that most people do with real animals that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

 

[BLAHwhatever]

Dungeon Keeper
Evil, immersive, lovable minions, addicting, plain fun setting up the perfect dungeons with traps and rooms, converting shiny heroes to your side by torture (not by offering cookies), possibility to take direct control over minions, dark humor, brilliant "voice acting"

Though slowly replaced by Dwarf Fortress!

 

[jacobythehedgehog]

Shadow of the Colossus was my personal favorite game of all time. I just loved it

 

[Puddleknock]

Even after many years Baldur's Gate 2 is still my favourite game of all time. It was the first game that could made me roar with laughter, get lost in the richness of the characters and make me savour the victory over a particularly difficult fight. Indeed every boss fight had weight and importance, from fighting Irenicus in hell to the final battle for the Throne of Bhaal I loved the way that combat and story were woven together.

This game started my love for RPGs and as such has a strong nostalgic element that its more contemporary counterparts can't match. But also I have a long list of memoires from my time in the game years after I actually did them. Aerie giving birth during the final battle still goes down as my single most memorable gaming moment (gave birth, put the baby in her inventory, then carried on the good fight....still amazes me to this day).

Just a fantastic game, if you are yet to play it I recommend you do, required education for any RPG fan in my eyes.

 

[Michael Hirst]

Deus Ex, it's ugly as hell to look at and the voice acting leaves a lot to be desired BUT it has some great immersive gameplay and a damn good storyline. For me it struck the perfect balance between freedom and focus. Too often a game with "TOTAL FREEDOM" has a very unfocusesed half assed story and a game that has no freedom feels constricting. Allowing the player multiple routes through set stage is my bag and I love the RPG aspects to it, especially being rewarded for exploration and not killing.

I also loved references to philosophy and conspiracy, it's great when you can litter a game world with these optional bits for people to find.

 

[TJSAINT]

Hmmmmm... I'm gonna say BioShock, GTA San Andreas or Red Dead Redemption... No way I could pick between them.
Oblivion wouldn't be far behind those three, nor would Deus Ex 1 or Fallout: New Vegas.

 

[ResonanceGames]

Deus Ex. It's more committed to its simulation than almost any other game I've ever played (the one exception I can think of is Morrowind, which would even let you kill story-essential characters) and it encourages hilarious creativity in how you accomplish your goals, even at the expense of realism.

Making a makeshift wall out of potted plants so I could trap and kill Anne Navarre with a LAM (even though the game gives no indication that you're allowed or supposed to kill her) thereby saving the hostage's life, as well as hearing Jacobson scramble to cover for my bizarre and highly illegal behavior is one of the most satisfying moments I've ever had in a game.

 

[busterkeatonrules]

Grandia. The original, for the PS1.

Every bit as epic and immersive as a Final Fantasy game, but with a much more light-hearted feel than most of them, Grandia delivers an enjoyable adventure that systematically ignores every RPG cliché that ever annoyed me.

There's no moody, douchy, emo blob of wangst posing as a protagonist here, nor will you find any legendary hero who exists only to lose his parents, see his home village destroyed, save the world from the big bad whatever, marry the princess and then get reincarnated a thousand years later to do it all over again.

The protagonist of Grandia is adventurer-wannabe Justin, an ordinary person who sets out to explore the world simply because he feels like it. He maintains a happy and optimistic attitude at all times, and the game is actually better for it. Seriously, this helps considerably. I swear I had an easier time getting through Final Fantasy VIII after I learned to ignore Squall.

The game world itself is a JOY to explore. It is enormous (spanning two discs), and richly varied. Here you will find sprawling cities and quaint towns, ancient ruins and modern military bases, green meadows, vast deserts, mist-shrouded forests, lost civilizations, you name it. And every single settlement you visit has its own, unique feel. It is perfectly clear from start to finish that somebody poured their whole heart and soul into making the game.

The graphics may come across as primitive, but you probably get used to them within the first 15 minutes. Or so I would think, I personally was in love with the graphics the moment I first saw them - because they reminded me of my good, old SNES. The issue is purely technical, though, as the massive attention to detail is nonetheless genuinely breathtaking!

I could write several lenghty paragraphs about the battle system, as it is widely considered to be the best ever designed for a console RPG, but several prople have done so before me, and this post is getting quite hefty already. Suffice to say, it is intuitive, dynamic and NOTHING like the battle system seen - and extensively complained about - in Final Fantasy games of the period.

In conclusion, I find Grandia to be a game that does absolutely everything right. I can't think of a single thing to complain about. Even the fact that I have to keep my old PS1 hooked up to the TV because Grandia is prone to crashing when played on a PS2, doesn't strike me as a problem. I do it for Grandia.